Rock climbing is most popular in the United States, Germany, France and Japan. All 11 countries ranked by climbers, gyms and world titles.
Rock climbing has no single world ranking of participants, but the clearest signals point to the United States, Germany and France for sheer numbers, with Japan, Austria and Slovenia punching far above their size in competition. Germany’s alpine club alone had more than 1.6 million members at the end of 2025, and Fontainebleau near Paris draws more than a million climbing days a year.
Below you will find the full ranking, a table with the key numbers, a profile of every country and a separate list of the nations that win the most world championship and Olympic medals. Sport climbing made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 and will have separate boulder, lead and speed medals at Los Angeles 2028.
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Countries where rock climbing is most popular:
Rock Climbing Popularity by Country at a Glance
| Rank | Country | World Championship golds | Best known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | United States | 3 | Yosemite, Boulder, 3 Olympic medals |
| #2 | Germany | 2 | Largest alpine club, Frankenjura |
| #3 | France | 14 | Fontainebleau, birthplace of sport climbing |
| #4 | Japan | 7 | Gym culture, 3 Olympic medals |
| #5 | Austria | 15 | Jakob Schubert, 15 world titles |
| #6 | United Kingdom | 0 | Birthplace of rock climbing as a sport |
| #7 | Switzerland | 3 | Swiss Alpine Club, Magic Wood |
| #8 | Italy | 6 | Dolomites, Bardonecchia 1985 |
| #9 | Spain | 4 | Alberto Ginés López, Olympic gold |
| #10 | Slovenia | 11 | Janja Garnbret, 2 Olympic golds |
| #11 | Canada | 3 | Squamish, Sean McColl |
How We Ranked the Countries
There is no international census of climbers, so we weighed several signals together: membership of national alpine clubs and climbing federations, the number of climbing gyms where a national count exists, the strength of the outdoor climbing culture and its famous crags, and results at the IFSC World Championships and the Olympic Games. Where a federation figure covers all mountain sports and not only climbing, we say so.
The glance table uses one comparable number for every country: gold medals won at the IFSC Climbing World Championships up to and including 2025 in Seoul, excluding paraclimbing, as compiled on Wikipedia from IFSC results. Participation figures come from the national bodies and industry reports named in each profile and are rounded or attributed where sources disagree.
#1 United States
- 🧗 Olympic medals: 3 (silver for Nathaniel Coleman and Brooke Raboutou, bronze for Sam Watson)
- 🏢 Gyms: Climbing Business Journal counted 40 new US gym openings in 2025
- 👥 Participants: about 5.6 million indoor climbers in 2021 (Outdoor Foundation)
- 🏆 World Championships: 3 gold and 18 medals in total
- 📅 Big event: Los Angeles 2028 Olympics
The United States has the biggest and most commercial climbing scene in the world. The Outdoor Foundation estimated more than 5.6 million indoor climbers in 2021, and Climbing Business Journal reported 40 new gym openings in the United States in 2025 against 12 closures. Modern American climbing grew up in Yosemite, where the 1957 first ascent of the Half Dome northwest face is seen as the birth of big wall climbing and Ron Kauk solved the Camp 4 boulder problem Midnight Lightning in 1978.
On the competition side the Americans are consistent medalists. Nathaniel Coleman took silver at Tokyo 2020, Brooke Raboutou became the first American woman to win an Olympic climbing medal with silver in Paris, and Sam Watson added speed bronze there. The United States is guaranteed a start place per gender and discipline at Los Angeles 2028 as host.
#2 Germany
- 👥 Alpine club members: 1,638,652 in the DAV at the end of 2025
- 🏢 Climbing facilities: 220 DAV facilities with about 200,000 square metres of climbing surface
- 🏆 World Championships: 2 gold and 17 medals in total
- ⭐ Stars: Alexander Megos
- 📅 History: first World Championships, Frankfurt 1991
Germany is the heartland of organised climbing. The German Alpine Club (DAV) reported 1,638,652 members at the end of 2025, up 4.3 percent on the year, and it runs about 220 climbing facilities. The sport has deep roots in Saxon Switzerland, where gymnasts from Bad Schandau used ladders and aid on the Falkenstein in 1864.
The IFSC was founded in Frankfurt in 2007, and the first world championships were held there in 1991. Alexander Megos, who grew up in the Frankenjura, is one of the strongest rock climbers in the world, and German climbers have collected 17 world championship medals.
#3 France
- 🏆 World Championships: 14 gold and 50 medals in total, the most of any nation except Russia
- 👥 FFME licences: about 120,000 in 2024 (Union Sport & Cycle)
- 🧗 Climbers: about 2 million estimated by the same survey
- 🌲 Fontainebleau: 1.1 to 1.3 million climbing days a year (2026 study)
- ⭐ Stars: Patrick Edlinger, Mejdi Schalck
France invented much of what climbers do today. Members of the Club alpin français began bouldering in the Fontainebleau forest around 1897, and in the 1980s pioneers such as Patrick Edlinger bolted routes at Buoux and in the Verdon, which started sport climbing. Competition climbing was dominated by French athletes in the 1990s.
The French federation FFME had about 120,000 licences in 2024 according to the Union Sport & Cycle observatory, which also estimates around two million people climb in France. A 2026 study counted between 1.1 and 1.3 million climbing days a year at Fontainebleau, and Mejdi Schalck won boulder silver at the 2025 World Championships in Seoul.
#4 Japan
- 🏢 Gyms: more than 500 (Reuters, 2018)
- 🧗 Olympic medals: 3 (Tokyo: Nonaka silver, Noguchi bronze; Paris: Anraku silver)
- 🏆 World Championships: 7 gold and 26 medals in total
- ⭐ Stars: Akiyo Noguchi, Ai Mori, Sorato Anraku
- 📅 Big event: Boulder world title for Anraku in Seoul 2025
Japan is the strongest climbing nation in Asia. Reuters reported in 2018 that the country had more than 500 climbing gyms, and gyms spread there from the mid-1990s, drawing many climbers indoors. Japan hosted the 2019 World Championships in Hachioji and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where Miho Nonaka won silver and Akiyo Noguchi bronze.
Ai Mori won the 2023 lead world title, the first for a Japanese athlete. Sorato Anraku won Olympic silver in Paris in 2024 and then the boulder world title in Seoul in 2025. In total Japan has 26 world championship medals, 7 of them gold.
#5 Austria
- 👥 Alpine club members: 748,046 in the Austrian Alpine Club at the end of 2025
- 🏆 World Championships: 15 gold and 30 medals, second only to Russia in golds
- 🧗 Olympic medals: 3 bronze (Schubert 2020 and 2024, Pilz 2024)
- ⭐ Stars: Jakob Schubert, Jessica Pilz
- 📅 Big event: 2018 World Championships in Innsbruck
Austria is a small country with a huge climbing culture. The Austrian Alpine Club reported a record 748,046 members at the end of 2025, although that figure covers all mountain sports. Tyrol alone has about 30 climbing halls according to the Tiroler Tageszeitung, and Innsbruck hosted the 2018 World Championships.
Jakob Schubert is a four-time lead world champion (2012, 2018, 2021 and 2023) and won Olympic bronze in 2021 and 2024. Jessica Pilz won the women’s lead title in Innsbruck in 2018 and bronze in Paris. Austria’s 15 world championship golds are the second most behind Russia.
#6 United Kingdom
- 👥 BMC members: over 85,000 according to the BMC (undated)
- 🏢 Climbing walls: over 400 (BMC, 2024)
- 🏆 Olympic gold: Toby Roberts, Paris 2024
- ⭐ Stars: Toby Roberts, Hamish McArthur, Erin McNeice
- 📅 History: Napes Needle, 1886
Rock climbing as a sport is usually dated to June 1886, when Walter Parry Haskett Smith soloed Napes Needle in the Lake District. The Peak District, the Lake District and the Scottish hills made Britain one of the four late nineteenth century cradles of the sport, and the British Mountaineering Council now says it represents over 85,000 members and reported more than 400 climbing walls in 2024.
Britain has not won a world championship gold, but it has 4 bronze medals. Toby Roberts won Great Britain’s first Olympic climbing gold in Paris in 2024 at the age of 19, after his father built a wall in the family garden during lockdown. The BMC names Erin McNeice as the 2025 overall lead World Cup winner.
#7 Switzerland
- 👥 Swiss Alpine Club: about 180,000 members in 110 sections
- 🏔 Huts: 151 SAC huts
- 🏢 Climbing halls: over 60 (moneyland.ch estimate, 2025)
- 🏆 World Championships: 3 gold and 9 medals in total
- 📅 Big event: 2023 World Championships in Bern
Switzerland combines the Alps with a dense network of climbing halls. The Swiss Alpine Club counts about 180,000 members in 110 sections and operates 151 huts, and a consumer portal counted over 60 climbing and bouldering halls in 2025. Bouldering areas such as Magic Wood, with more than 300 boulders, and Ticino draw climbers from all over Europe.
Bern hosted the IFSC World Championships in 2023. Petra Klingler won eleven Swiss bouldering titles before retiring after the 2024 Olympics, and Sascha Lehmann has been one of the leading Swiss lead climbers. Swiss athletes have won 9 world championship medals, 3 of them gold.
#8 Italy
- 🏆 World Championships: 6 gold and 9 medals in total
- 🧗 Lead World Cup: Overall wins for Crespi 2005 and Ghisolfi 2021
- ⭐ Stars: Stefano Ghisolfi, Laura Rogora
- 🏔 History: Georg Winkler soloed the Vajolet Towers in 1887
- 📅 First competition: Bardonecchia, 1985
Italy has some of the oldest climbing history in Europe. In 1887 the 17-year-old Georg Winkler soloed the Vajolet Towers in the Dolomites, which helped launch the sport there, and the first sport climbing competition in Italy took place at Bardonecchia in 1985.
Stefano Ghisolfi won the overall Lead World Cup in 2021, only the second Italian to do so after Flavio Crespi in 2005, and Laura Rogora took lead bronze at the 2021 World Championships in Moscow. In February 2024 the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) and the climbing federation FASI signed an agreement to align climbing instructor training.
#9 Spain
- 🧗 Olympic medals: 1 gold (Alberto Ginés López, Tokyo 2020)
- 🏆 World Championships: 4 gold, 5 silver, 9 medals in total
- ⭐ Stars: Alberto Ginés López
- 🏢 Facility: Alberto Ginés wall in Caceres, opened 2025
- 📅 2025: Ginés won the overall lead World Cup (FEDME)
Spain’s mild winters and limestone crags make it a favourite destination for sport climbers, and the mountaineering and climbing federation FEDME has marked its centenary. The Tokyo 2020 gold of Alberto Ginés López, the first men’s Olympic climbing champion, put Spanish climbing in the spotlight.
In 2025 an elite training wall named after Ginés opened at the sports technification centre in Caceres, with speed, lead and bouldering sections. According to FEDME’s 2025 report, Ginés won the overall lead World Cup that season and finished fourth in lead at the World Championships in Seoul.
#10 Slovenia
- 🏆 World Championships: 11 gold and 24 medals in total
- 🧗 Olympic medals: 2 gold, both Janja Garnbret (2020 and 2024)
- ⭐ Stars: Janja Garnbret, Mia Krampl
- 👥 Population: about 2 million (UIAA)
- 📅 Seoul 2025: top of the medal table with 2 golds
Slovenia has only about two million people but ranks fourth in the all-time world championship gold count. Its mountaineering association describes itself as the most numerous sports organisation in the country, and Janja Garnbret has become the face of the sport. She won the first Olympic women’s climbing title at Tokyo 2020 and defended it in Paris in 2024.
Garnbret holds a record 10 senior world championship titles after winning lead and boulder in Seoul in 2025, and she reached 50 career World Cup and World Climbing Series wins in Innsbruck in June 2026. Mia Krampl won lead silver at the 2019 World Championships in Hachioji. In total Slovenia has 11 world championship golds.
#11 Canada
- 🏆 World Championships: 3 gold and 4 medals in total
- ⭐ Stars: Sean McColl
- 🏢 Gyms: 11 new gyms opened in 2025 (Climbing Business Journal)
- 🏔 Crags: Squamish, home of Dreamcatcher (5.14d)
- 📅 History: Nova Scotia joined as 7th province of Climbing Escalade Canada, 2024
Canada is a fast-growing climbing country. Climbing Business Journal counted 11 new Canadian gyms in 2025, and a 2021 industry report listed 136 gyms in the country. Outdoors, Squamish in British Columbia is famous for granite crags such as Dreamcatcher, a 5.14d route, and Adam Ondra climbed Disbelief (9b) at Acephale in Canada.
Sean McColl won three combined world titles, in 2012, 2014 and 2016, which account for all three Canadian world championship golds. Canada has not yet won an Olympic climbing medal, but the national body Climbing Escalade Canada grew to seven provincial members when Nova Scotia joined in 2024.
Which Countries Are Best at Rock Climbing?
Popularity and success are not the same thing. This table counts gold and total medals at the IFSC Climbing World Championships up to 2025 (without paraclimbing) and Olympic medals at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
| Country | World Championship golds | World Championship medals | Olympic medals 2020 to 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russia (federation suspended since 2022) | 16 | 53 | 0 |
| Austria | 15 | 30 | 3 (3 bronze) |
| France | 14 | 50 | 0 |
| Slovenia | 11 | 24 | 2 (2 gold) |
| Japan | 7 | 26 | 3 (2 silver, 1 bronze) |
| Czech Republic | 6 | 20 | 0 |
| Poland | 6 | 19 | 2 (1 gold, 1 bronze) |
| Italy | 6 | 9 | 0 |
| Spain | 4 | 9 | 1 (1 gold) |
| United States | 3 | 18 | 3 (2 silver, 1 bronze) |
| Germany | 2 | 17 | 0 |
| Great Britain | 0 | 4 | 1 (1 gold) |
Other Countries Where Rock Climbing Is Growing
These countries just missed the ranking but have a strong and growing climbing scene.
| Country | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Czech Republic | Has 6 world championship golds and 20 medals, and Adam Ondra climbed Silence in Norway on 3 September 2017, the first route proposed at 9c. |
| Poland | Aleksandra Mirosław won speed gold at Paris 2024 and again at the 2025 World Championships, and Aleksandra Kałucka took bronze in Paris. |
| South Korea | Hosted the 2025 World Championships in Seoul, where Lee Do-hyun won the men’s lead title, and has 4 world championship golds. |
| China | Won two silver medals in speed at Paris 2024 through Wu Peng and Deng Lijuan, and Long Jianguo won speed gold in Seoul in 2025. |
| Australia | Tom O’Halloran was the first Australian man to climb at the Olympics, in Tokyo, and Mount Arapiles in Victoria is the country’s best known climbing area. |
More About Rock Climbing
FAQ
Which country is rock climbing most popular in?
There is no official global count, but the United States, Germany and France have the largest scenes. The German Alpine Club alone had 1,638,652 members at the end of 2025, and the US had about 5.6 million indoor climbers in 2021 according to the Outdoor Foundation.
Which country is best at rock climbing?
Excluding Russia, whose federation has been suspended by the IFSC since 2022, Austria has the most world championship golds with 15, and France has the most medals with 50. At the Olympics Slovenia has won two golds, both by Janja Garnbret.
Where was rock climbing invented?
Rock climbing as a sport emerged in several places in the late nineteenth century. W. P. Haskett Smith soloed Napes Needle in England in 1886, gymnasts climbed in Saxon Switzerland in Germany from 1864, Georg Winkler soloed the Vajolet Towers in the Dolomites in 1887, and French climbers began bouldering at Fontainebleau around 1897.
Which country has won the most Olympic medals in climbing?
Austria, Japan and the United States have three each across Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. Slovenia has two golds, and Poland has two medals including a gold.
Is rock climbing an Olympic sport?
Yes. Sport climbing debuted at Tokyo 2020 with 40 athletes and grew to 68 climbers in Paris 2024. Los Angeles 2028 will award separate medals in boulder, lead and speed for men and women.
Is rock climbing popular in Asia?
Yes. Japan reportedly has more than 500 climbing gyms and has won 7 world championship golds. South Korea hosted the 2025 World Championships in Seoul, and China has won Olympic and world medals in speed climbing.
Who is the best rock climber in the world?
Janja Garnbret of Slovenia holds the record of 10 senior world championship titles and won Olympic gold in 2021 and 2024. In men’s climbing Jakob Schubert of Austria is a four-time lead world champion.
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